Cellular telephones, while convenient, require the user to use one hand to hold the telephone in proximity to ear and mouth in order to use the telephone. In addition, when the user wishes to use a cell phone control such as the alphanumeric keypad, the user must take the cell phone from their ear and transfer it to a location in which they can see the keypad and push buttons as needed. In addition to inconvenience and distraction from contraindicated activities such as driving, this is a two handed process. These problems are not restricted to cellular telephones as a growing number of types of devices offer users audio input and output data. Personal computers and personal digital assistants, as two examples, offer increasingly efficient speech recognition. Digital and tape recorders, which do not offer voice recognition, are also examples of the types of devices which may increasingly be voice activated and may even offer preprogrammed voice output.
The requirement of holding a device such as a cell telephone to the ear in turn causes various other problems, safe operation of motor vehicles being one major example of such issues, tiredness by the user's arm being a less important type of problem. For these reasons and others, vendors and inventors are offering a range of solutions to the problem of “hands free” cell phone operation.
One attempt to solve this problem is the “hands free cell phone” in which the volume of the audio output and the sensitivity of the audio input are dramatically increased. The user places the cell phone or other device in a special holder or merely places it on seat or dashboard and speaks loudly. Such systems have numerous disadvantages: audio feedback, ambient interference and poor sound quality, among others. Lack of privacy is increasingly an issue as well, since both sides of the conversation are clearly audible to anyone nearby.
One more promising route for improvement is the use of the headset. By wearing earphones and a microphone, a user can escape the need to continuously hold the cellular telephone or other audio input/output device. Unfortunately, headset cords connecting the headset to the base device can entangle the user's hands, arms, or whatever they may be using, such as a computer keyboard or steering wheel, thus posing a threat on their own. The solution to this problem is the wireless headset, in which the headset device and base device communicate by means of RF transmissions.
Wireless headsets offer a potentially life saving hands free mode of operation for motor vehicles and other activities which require continuous active use of two hands. The user wears the wireless headset with microphone and speakers, leaves the base unit safely tucked away, and is in no danger of having one or more hands entangled in a cord or used to control the base device. This life saving ability is of increasing importance as the number of cell telephones on the road proliferates and drivers increasingly ignore safety (and in some jurisdictions the law) in order to use their telephone, computer, recorder or other device. Other situations than driving may also show the life saving features of the present invention: skiing, bicycling, operation of industrial machinery, printing presses, civil engineering equipment, etc.
And in yet a broader range of applications, the device of the present invention may be used to provide convenience and increase productivity: secretarial work, telemarketing, office work, etc.
Various wireless headsets schemes have been proposed. In general, the problem with most headsets is size, bulk, and lack of ease of use. The following prior art head sets show these disadvantages.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,745 issued Nov. 21, 1989 to Silver for “CORDLESS HEADSET TELEPHONE” shows one early telephone headset in the context of a conventional land-line telephone. The headset disclosed has a large ear piece, telescoping antennas in both base unit and headset, and a cross section so large as to include a keypad on the headset portion of the device. The '745 patent teaches only that charging of the headset battery is accomplished by means of contacts 29 seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5. The headset also includes on/off switches and a manual volume control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,417 issued Dec. 31, 1996 to Rydbeck for “RADIOTELEPHONE APPARATUS INCLUDING A WIRELESS HEADSET” teaches a headset in which recharging is accomplished when the headset is attached to the base transceiver unit. The gain control of the headset is accomplished manually by means of controls in the base transceiver unit, as discussed in column 4 at lines 38 through 59. Two embodiments are taught in both of which manual control of headset output volume is accomplished manually at the base transceiver unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,825 issued Jun. 20, 2000 to Hahn et al. for “MODULAR WIRELESS HEADSET SYSTEM FOR HANDS FREE TALKING” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,029 B1 issued May 8, 2001 to Hahn et al. for “MODULAR WIRELESS HEADSET SYSTEM” disclose a headset having battery contacts used to charge the removable battery pack module. These patents also teach that the headset have manual on/off, channel and volume controls.
Finally, US Patent Application Publication No. US 2001/0016506 A1 published Aug. 23, 2001 in the name of Son et al. and entitled “WIRELESS HANDS-FREE SYSTEM OF CELLULAR PHONE” teaches a battery operated hands free headset having a battery saving feature described in paragraph 0014. No indication of any means of charging of the battery is present in the publication, and as specified in the final phrase of paragraph 0013, a switch on the headset is operated by the user.
These devices all require either changing of the batteries or plugging the batteries into some type of charger arrangement having contacts, springs, sockets or other devices. In addition, the structure which allows changing of the batteries or charging of them (the contacts, sockets, access panels, etc) all add cost, weight and complexity to the headsets. However, the objective of having such headsets is simplicity, small size, light weight, and ease of use.
In addition, the size and weight of these headset devices is increased by the use of various ancillary devices such as on/off switches, volume controls, etc, the functions of these device can be better handled by means of different and smaller structures.
Finally, none of the devices disclosed teach a method by which the “trickle current” which the base transceiver unit uses may be turned on and off. None of these devices teach that the “trickle current” powering the wireless device may be turned off when not in use, yet leave the base device (such as a telephone) turned on, and further have the wireless device be available for use whenever the base device is used. Such “trickle currents” in consumer electronic devices such as VCRs, televisions, computers, caller ID boxes, and so on are now known to be a cumulatively large source of energy wastage in the form of electricity generated and supplied to homes and businesses and wasted to power LCDs and other circuitry in such consumer devices while the devices are not in use.